NRL Finals 2021: Question marks over appointment of referees Ashley Klein and Gerard Sutton

The Melbourne Storm juggernaut is hard to stop, and even harder under the referee appointed to control Saturday night’s game.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 26: Referee Ashley Klein reacts during the round 20 NRL match between the Cronulla Sharks and the Canberra Raiders at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on September 26, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Ashley Klein has survived a refereeing howler that robbed Parramatta of a crucial penalty last weekend to retain the whistle for Friday night’s massive preliminary final between Manly and Souths.

Klein will referee the blockbuster despite NRL head of football Graham Annesley admitting the officials made a crucial error in the Eels semi-final loss to Penrith.

Meanwhile, the Panthers private point of contention with Gerard Sutton officiating when they play the Storm is set to continue in their grand final qualifier on Saturday night.

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Ashley Klein took a lot of flak for his performance in the Eels-Panthers clash.

The Panthers won’t declare it publicly, but they believe Sutton has been hoodwinked by Melbourne’s at-times spoiling tactics in their most recent clashes.

The undertone of tension dates back to last year’s grand final where Penrith halves Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai were silenced in the 2020 showdown by the relentless pressure of influential Storm and Maroons stars Cameron Munster, Christian Welch and Felise Kaufusi.

The anxiety even progressed to this year’s State of Origin series where many of the Penrith and Storm players were involved, leading to a nervous NSW worrying about Sutton’s ability to keep the Maroons on-side.

The Storm are masters of finding referee Gerard Sutton’s blind side. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The Storm had won their past eight clashes under Sutton going into this season. Though, in Melbourne’s defence, they lost their most recent game officiated by Sutton - going down to the Eels 22-10 in round 24 at Suncorp Stadium.

The retention of Klein - and overlooking of next-in-line referee Adam Gee - is on the basis that the decision not to penalise Panthers star Jarome Luai for pulling back halfback Mitchell Moses chasing in support, was a mistake by the sideline official - not Klein.

“This should have been a penalty – I don’t believe it warranted more than a penalty because it wasn’t a professional foul in a try-scoring situation,” Annesley said.

“This is a miss by the touch judge in this case – back play is the realm of the touch judge and it’s a miss, there’s no question about that.”

Originally published as NRL Finals 2021: Question marks over appointment of referees Ashley Klein and Gerard Sutton